BACKGROUND Acute asthma is a common reason for patients to seek care from ambulance services. Although better care of acute asthma can prevent avoidable morbidity and deaths, there has been little research into ambulance clinicians' adherence to national guidelines for asthma assessment and management and how this might be improved. Our research aim was to explore paramedics' attitudes, percept...

BACKGROUND Low levels of asthma control worldwide point to the possibility of sub-optimal management; therefore, documentation of physicians' perception is critical for future interventions. Our aim was to examine self-reported management abilities of Turkish physicians dealing with children with asthma, document the factors affecting appropriate decisions and compare the results with those of ...

T he first British guidelines for the management of asthma in adults published in 1990 clearly recommended self-management of asthma. The exact statement read: ‘‘As far as possible, patients should be trained to manage their own treatment rather than be required to consult their doctor before making changes’’. Similar advice has been repeated in subsequent revisions of the UK guidelines and in ...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to establish the feasibility and acceptability of an online asthma self-management program developed for older Australians with asthma. METHODS AsthmaWise, an internet education self-management program, was piloted for a 3-month period at the beginning of 2012. Participants were recruited using both online and offline strategies and were required to comple...

An estimated 17 million Americans suffer from asthma, a costly disease accounting for 1.8 million emergency department visits and 10 million physician office visits annually [1]. Asthma is the most common chronic childhood disease, affecting more than 1 child in 20 and accounting for an annual loss of approximately 10 million school days per year [1]. Asthma-related hospitalization rates increa...

Bronchial asthma has witnessed a significant increase in its prevalence in the past decade. Considerable morbidity and significant mortality has been associated with it and this has been matched by increased scientific research into new methods of therapy to supplement or replace the traditionally known treatment modalities. A search for old and new literature on asthma management in adults nec...

The Buteyko Breathing Method is a self-management therapy for asthma. The author is a member of the research team for the clinical trial at Brisbane's Mater Hospital, a physiotherapist and accredited Buteyko Practitioner. The clinical trial compared the efficacy of the Buteyko Breathing Method with conventional treatment of asthma. The control group, was on a regime of medical management, physi...

Asthma is increasing in prevalence worldwide and results in significant use of healthcare resources. Although most patients with asthma can be adequately treated with inhaled corticosteroids, an important number of patients require additional therapy and an increasing number of options are available. A further minority of patients develop severe persistent asthma which remains difficult to mana...

Objectives. At the completion of this activity, the participant will be able to: 1. demonstrate an understanding of the pathophysiology resulting in asthma symptomatology; 2. recognize the stages of asthma based on patient symptoms and the pharmacological treatment recommended at each stage; 3. identify new treatments that have recently been approved for asthma management; 4. describe adverse e...

Asthma is still one of the leading causes of morbidity in children. Despite the improved understanding in the disease pathogenesis and availability of the different classes of drugs, the incidence of emergency visits due to acute exacerbations and admission rates due to frequent and uncontrolled disease is fairly high. Management of bronchial asthma in children is quite different to that of adu...